The Nanashi Swordsman
by Erebus God-of-the-Darkness
Summary: I might not look like much, wearing a black cloak with a hood, or My black Cursor indicating that I bring an end to all things or my kick ass sword that I got from floor one. But I AM much, far to much for any dumb-ass player or floor boss who thinks that they can take me on. I am the Shadow God, the Renegade, The black hood, I am... The Nanashi Swordsman
1. Chapter 1

_October 9th, 2022_

I ducked under a sword skill that was aimed at my head and quickly backpedaled, panting.

"damn, I should of thought this through." I growled while slamming my fist into the monster's face, killing it.

I looked at the screen in front of me, telling me my rewards for killing the monster. I got 1,000 XP, a leather hide, and 700 col. I sighed and said,

" only that for killing a level 27 monster, this is getting kinda rough."

I had straight, shaggy, jagged, raven black hair that reached my shoulders. My eyes where onyx color with some grey mixed into it. My eyebrows were thick and light, a strange and rare combo, but it worked. I was 6'0, a feat that I was proud of. I was twenty but soon to be twenty-one My face was very angular, having a slightly pointed chin and high cheekbones. My skin was a pale tan and very smooth, or as some girls would say, perfect. I had flat, dry humor and I almost never smiled, unless I was with my punk/Gothic cousin ( Who was actually my second cousin, twice remov- ahh I don't even want to get into it, my family is so fucked up. ) , and only living family, Thalia. Most people called me the "King of Emo'" or the "black hole boy". I always smiled whenever i heard the comments, but I don't know how Thalia reacted. For the most part, I think she just kept her poker face on. Most people thought of Thalia as my mom or sister, but as a fact, as you already know, she is neither.

"**HELL**o Kazu, are you lagging or what?" asked my friend Tazman while smiling at his joke. I blinked twice before saying "no dumbass just thinking." He sighed and put a had over his eyes while saying, "You know, there is and Orc lord behind you about to turn you into a carpet and a pancake. I would help you buuuuuuut you called me a dumbass sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. . . no."

My eyes widened and I quickly rolled to the side, cursing myself for letting my guard drop. Where i just stood was a crater in the ground, with a pair of glowing red eyes staring right at me from above the the dent. I responded with the flat of my sword to the face, making it fly back several meters. I grinned and walked toward the Orc, who was trying to get up. I was about to finish it of when a dark bronze great sword intercepted my path and kilUIled the monster.

"damn it Taz, that was my kill!" I yelled at my friend frustrated.

He simple smiled at me and said "I got bored, besides, you were taking to long, so i decided to "help" out"

I growled at him and walked away, flipping him off as I passed him. I heard him mutter "jackass" and "son of a bitch". After about 5 minutes of walking, Taz caught up to me and said,

"so are we done for the night, caus' I want to get going"

I looked at him and sighed saying "fine, lets go find an inn." He smiled, satisfied with my answer. We walked for about ten minutes in the Forrest of Terror until we came across a town and found an inn. We quickly rented a room and crashed on the soft beds, tired and worn out from the day.

* * *

_October 20th, 2022_

Today I was "kicked" out of the Beta Test. Well, saying kicked out is an overstatement, more like I died the maximum amount of deaths for my level. The level that i died at was 35, which means that i died 70 times.

"Damn, I died. . . a lot." I mumbled lightly while getting out of my bed. Before I was even halfway out, something warm and furry jumped into my lap, it was my cat, skeleton. I named him skeleton because he has white lines that mark where all the bones are inside of his black body. I smiled at him and lovingly scratched him behind the ears, making him purr in pleasure. I stood up and walked to my door, bumping into someone on the way out. I looked at who I crashed into and said "was up Thalia, where you stompin'?" My cousin looked at me for a little but before she grinned and stomped on my feet. . . hard.

'On your feet Kaz." she replied and walked to here room.

"Bastard!" I yelled at her. She laughed and flipped me off double time without turning around.

"damn, she's good" I mumbled before walking down the stairs, albeit painfully.

I went and checked the the time, 10:15 was what it read.

My eyes widened and I yelled 'FUCK! I'M LATE FOR SCHOOL!"

I heard Thalia laughing in the back round saying, "it's Saturday, dumbass!"

"oh...sick" was all I said when I heard the **WONDERFUL **news. I quickly walked over to the counter and picked up an apple and went to go take a nap, and check If Tazman was still on the Beta. When i got to my door I turned the knob and slowly opened the door waiting to see if any traps had been set my my cousin, or if Skeleton was going to fall out of the sky and cling to my face. My room was dull and empty, with only a twin size bed, a black dresser, and a large black desk with three computers on it to occupy it. The base colors of the room were black and grey. No Posters, or pictures or adds were on the walls. The walls themselves were painted a grey and a big, rough, think black carpet covered the floor. All-in-all, my room was depressing, bland and very straight forward. I sighed and closed the door, walking over to my bed to take a much needed nap.

After about an hour of sleeping, I decided to get up and go see what Thalia was doing.

My cousin Thalia was only about a seven months older than me, making her twenty-one & 1/2 years of age. She stood a a height of 5'9, quiet tall for a women. Her hair was a storm cloud black and here eyes where a bright blue. She had a Gothic attire and a punk attitude, in other words, she didn't take shit from nobody. Most men would describe her a "pretty" or "attractive", where as I described her as " a pain-in-the-ass to live with, but a good friend to have." Here hair was a lot shorter than mine, it barely reaching down past here ears. When she was only seventeen, she went to explore the world, and decided to settled in Japan, were she heard it was dark, cold and it rained. When my aunt died, I where given a choice, to go live with grandpa, or with my cousin Thalia. At first I choose grandpa, thinking it would be fun, but boy did I regret my choice. He wasn't really mean or anything, he just was really, really, really strict and hardcore. After about five years of living with him, I decided to go live with my cousin. When I told my grandfather, he got angry and gave me one hell of a beating, but he sent me anyway. When Thalia saw my on her door step saying "grandpa sent me to live with you." well... she started laughing her ass of. I was thirteen, that was only four years ago.

I was snapped out of my thought when Thalia said

"was up squirt, did you break, burn, blow up or kill anything?"

"no just wanted to say hi with pain being inflicted to my toes." I answered while walking to my room. When I got there, I sat down on my bed and started to think about what Taz was doing right now in the beta. He was probably doing something stupid, crazy, or hilarious. Or maybe he was actually trying to get as far as he can. When I died the maximum amount of times, I was only a level 35, but Taz was a good 25 levels ahead of me, making him a level 60. He was also a Tank like person, making him a lot buffer than me. We also found a lot of rare stuff, but then a gain, we did a lot of rare things. One time the two of us soloed a floor boss, and won. I shook my head and went down stairs to do something. When I got there, the first thing I saw was the Television. I sighed and sat down on the couch and turned it on. The First thing I was was Spongebob.

"What the fuck is this shit? Moffo starts underwater fires without any thing to fuel it? The Fuck, he just changed into a goddamned nail and jammed the shit out of somebody over a snail. What douchbag **WROTE THIS GODDAMNED SHOW!?"**

After I... err exclaimed my feelings for the show, I turned the channel and came across the walking dead.

"This... this is more like it! why can't the people who control what is on the T.V play this stuff more often?!" I said while getting up to go grab some soda. When I sat back down, Skeleton ran downstairs and jumped into my lap. I smiled at his statics and thought 'it's going to be a good night'.

* * *

_October 31st, 2022_

Today was the last day in the beta. In six days, they will launch the official start of Sword Art Online.

"wow... HOLY SHIT I CAN'T FUCKING WAIT!" I yelled while I decided to order the game with my beta privileges.

When I was ordering the game I got a message from Taz, telling me to meet him at the train station. I quickly replied saying "_ok, I'll be therein about 15 minutes." _When I finished replying I quickly finished ordering SAO and ran down stairs and outside to get to the train station. Right before I was going to start Walking, I decided against it and hopped on My early 17th birthday.

A sleek, black, Ducati.

What can I say? My dad was a rich man but liked to live low.

After putting on my helmet and walking out looking totally badass, I decided to NOW go to the train station.

About 12 minutes later, I pulled up to the station and parked, deciding to leave my helmet on, keeping the badass look. I saw Taz shaking his heard at my moves, but smiling none of the less.

"you wanted to see me?" I decided to say after about a minuted of scilence

"Kaz, i'm not got to be laying SAO." Taz replied.

"hahaha, what." I growled.

"I'm sorry dude, its not that I don't want to, I really do, its just well, um, well..."

"spit. it. out." I growled out

"my baby brother some how managed destroyed my NerveGear and chew up my SAO hard copy, which so happened to be my only copy." Taz said while scratching the back of his head.

I stared at him before laughing. He smiled weakly and put his head down. I patted him on the shoulder before saying

"s'ok man, I understand. I used to have a ba-" I stopped myself in mid sentence and started to cough.

"you alright dude?" Taz asked, concerned. I waved him off and started to walk back to my bike.

"hey" I called "I'll take you to lunch the day before the launch, my treat."

Taz smiled before waving and yelling "sounds good, we'll meet here 12:30."

I waved, showing that I was cool with that time.

I sighed and rode home, thinking about the fun that I was going to be having in one weeks time.


	2. First Day

_November 6th, 2022_

I looked at my watch, seeing that it was _12:57._ 'Almost time' I thought while changing into my "gaming" clothes.

"Kazu, I'm off to work, i'll be back at around 10:00 o.k? bye." I heard Thalia yell from downstairs.

_12:58 _

I quickly put on my Nerve Gear and waited for the official launch time.

_12:59... 13:00_

I smirked and said "Link Start!"

When I finished those two soon to be infamous words, I found myself flying through electricity. The system did a quick start up check, testing all of my senses. I wonder why they chose pizza for taste? Maybe pizza was Akihiko Kayaba's favorite food. When the sensory check was completed, the system asked my to log in. When I finished typing in my password and username, the system asked me if I would like to take the information from the beta test. I clicked yes, thinking that my stats might be transferred over. When I was logged in and all the testing shit was done, I found myself flying through electricity again. 'I'm starting to feel like a fucking lightning bolt.' I thought while slowly forming in the plaza.

'ahhh, sword art online, Its been a while since the beta, I wonder if they changed anything.' I thought while clenching my fist and looking up."awww, c'mon, that's just disgusting! activating add blocker." I complained wile looking at the adds that where advertising about mountain dew and how many taste buds I have, which I now know is 10,000. 'Would you like to pay $29.99 to activate add blocker?' a message appeared in front of me. "Really, I spent FIVE FUCKING THOUSAND DOLLARS on this game, and the add blocker wasn't included in the PAYMENT!... I am gonna burn this fucker to the ground." I growled out while walking away.

* * *

After cussing the game makers out mentally I walked slowly into an alley and quickly started to speed up once I was out of sight. I stopped in the middle of west field and look ed behind me, making sure that nobody had followed me here. I was mentally glad that nobody had seen me walk off. I opened my menu to equip my starter sword. When I opened my menu, I looked at my stats to see if they transferred over. I was surprised when they actually did. I went and checked my inventory to see if all of my items had gone over as well. I was a little disappointed when they didn't, well at least not all of them. My main equipment had gone over, except for all of my weapons, which was VERY disappointing.

I wondered if my skills transfered over as well, so I went to check on my skill page. It read,

One Handed Curved-Sword 1/1000

Alchemy 0/1000 (not available until level 50)

"whoa, what the hell... I don't remember these skills in the beta test. Maybe they are stander-ed issue now... wait a minute... I think that these are unique skills. Yea, the handbook says that there are such things as unique skills, and that only one or two players can have one. Whoa! cool." I said after I closed my menu and walked forward with the armor from the beta test equipped. I started to grind, wanting to reach at least a level ten before 17:30 **(A/N: for all you people who don't know 24 hour time, that's 5:30 pm)**, knowing that my cousin will ask me how far I got and how many levels did I gain. It was quite easy work, considering my stats and how high they where. At about 17:25, I reached level ten, and was satisfied with myself for the work that I got done. I decided to log out and go eat something, and then come back. when I opened my menu, I noticed that the log out button was missing. 'Weird... probably just a bug.' I thought to myself while walking back to town. When the town of beginnings was almost in sight, I heard bells ringing. 'What the fu~' I though while stopping. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of blue light. When it faded, I was in town square, 'what the fuck a forced teleport? Who the hell did that! the only person with that kind of power would be a GM or Kayaba Akihiko himself. I heard comments form the crowd of players like

"what's going on?"

"I have a meeting to go to!"

"WHERE THE HELL IS THE LOG OUT BUTTON!"

"I HAVE A DATE SCHEDULED AT 6:00 , I NEED TO LOG OUT, WHY AM I HERE!

I snickered at the comments until a player next to me said while pointing at a flashing hexagon in the sky"What the hell is that" The player had red hair, reddish brown eyes, a bandanna wrapped around his forehead, and a white shirt on. All-in-all, most of the players attributes where red.

"well balls, I believe the locals call it a hexagon, I'm not 100% sure on that, so I'll have to get back to you on that." a dark haired next to him answered.

"Fuck off, and my name is Klein." the players known as Klein said.

"and now the sky is bleeding"

"wow, they really are working for that M rating."

'true, the game does has an M and T+ rating on it' I thought while looking at the sky, where a figure was starting to form out of the "blood".

When it finished forming, it was a robbed person that had dark purple smoke coming out of the hood that covered his "face"

"**Hello everyone, Welcome to Sword Art Online. My name is Kayaba Akihiko."** He said.

When the crowd said heard that, the all started talking at once, making a lot of noise, strengthening my hatred for crowds and people in general. Kayaba tried to get every body to stop talking. TRIED being the key word in that last sentence.

"**yea ok, I'm just going to put the voice on mute."** he said. When he finished his comment, idmeatlly a large, blowing silver mute sign appeared above his head

"do you think that he realized that he just muted himself?" Klein asked the dark haired boy next to him.

'give it a minute' I thought while frowning.

"give it a minute" the boy said. I cracked a grin.

Suddenly, the mute sign dissipated and Kayaba said, **"well.. that was bad, let me start over. Welcome Players, my name is Kayaba Akihiko and welcome to Sword Art Online. I trust that you have all noticed the log out button is missing from the main menu. However, this is not a game malfunction. I repeat, this is not a game malfunction, but an original feature of Sword Art Online"**

'Original feature, what the fuck is he going on about?!' I mentally screamed.

"A-A feature?" Klein whispered, clearly confused.

**"You cannot log out of SAO on our own. No one on the outside will be able to remove or shut down the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful of microwave radiation,destroying your brain and thus ending your life."**

The horrifying thought of my cousin removing the NerveGear and making my head explode flew threw my mind, but I then reminded myself that the last time she did that, well... I kicked her ass pretty good, so I think that I'm safe.

The crowed started asking questions and one person said, " Come On, enough of this bullshit" and tried walking away. Right when he was about to set foot into an alley way, and invisible force blocked him and he banged on it saying, "What the Hell! I can't get out!"

"What's he talking about, he's gotta be nuts. Right, Kirito?" Klein whispered to the person standing next to him, who I now assumed was Kirito.

"He's right. The Transmitter's microwave signals are just like those in a microwave oven. If the limiter was disabled, it could fry our brains." Kirito answered.

"Why don't they cut the power then?"

This is where I decided to pull the jackass card and but in. " The NerveGear has an internal battery, it can last up to three days on its own."

Kirito looked at me and Klein eyes widened in shock and slight anger. "That's Just messed up! What's going on!" he spat out while shaking his head.

**"Unfortunately, the friends and family of several players have ignored this warning and attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, 213 players have permanently retired in both Aincrad and in the real world."**

"213 players... that's fucking retarded!" I muttered.

**As you can see, news organizations across the world are reporting on this incident and the many deaths. Thus, you can now assume that the danger of having the NerveGear removed from your head are greatly reduced. Please relax and work hard to clear the game."**

I heard Kirito gasp and my eyes widened in shock and horror. _' clear the game?! Sure I was one of the best beta testers, if not he best, but to clear the game, that's impossible! _

**"However, do take note of this. You can no longer respawn in this game. Once your HP reaches zero, your avatar will be permanently erased, and at the same time... the NerveGear will destroy your brain."**

I gasped and shook my head when the thought of a boss catching me with a sword kill in the chest and my Hp dropping to zero. A small fire of rage started to burn inside of me, growing by the foot with every passing second, until it almost consumed me. _'this man... this man... THIS MAN IS FUCKING RETARDED! HE IS A GODDAMNED GENIUS AND HE IS A PSYCHO WHO TRAPS PEOPLE IN GAMES! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-'_

"... I'm going to kill you you bastard... YOU HEAR THAT! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU YOU BASTARD! I WILL THROUGH INTO HELL WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!"

**"You only need to fulfill one condition to set yourselves free- clear the game. You are currently on the 1st floor, the lowest level in Aincrad. Make you way through each dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, and you will advance to the next level. defeat the final boss on the 100th floor, and you will clear the game."**

The crowed started to talk among themselves and asking what he meant by clearing the game. "No way... That's impossible" Klein exclaimed while shaking his head. I simply put up my shields and decided that I would never get close to anyone in this game, because being close to someone will only bring you down and when they die, it feels like a part of you has died as well.

"... the memories... so painful. I don't even want to remember them." I whispered weakly.

**"And finally, you can find a gift in your inventory that will all be equipped momentarily, please find out for yourselves."**

When he finished talking, a mirror appeared in my hand. "The fu-," was all I got before a bright blue light surrounded me and when it faded, I continued "-ck". Staring back at me was a shocked young man with dark green, almost black, eyes, pale skin, a scar that ran over his right eye down to his jaw, and an angled face with shoulder length black hair that was held up in a ponytail. **(A/N Just look up Nanashi, Sword of the Stranger in Google images and you will know what he looks like.)**

"It's me, the real me... what the hell?!" I yelled while looking up at Kayaba. I knew exactly how it happened and I heard Kirito explaining it to Klein. I rubbed a hand a cross my stomach and the smallest of smiles appeared on my face when I felt the rough and defined lines of my abs under my shirt. _'well... at least I have my body, so I can do some real ass-kicking with these guys' _I thought cockily while smiling. (Now, I wasn't ripped like muscles bulging out of my clothes, HELL NO! That would disgust me. but you know, the abs are their, plain as day... if you took my shirt off, that is. *but please don't*)

**"All of you must be wondering, why? Why would Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do all this? My goal has already been achieved. I wanted to create my own world that I could observe and admire. That is why I made Sword Art Online. And now it has all been fulfilled."**

My eyes where practically glowing with hatred and the flames of wrath blew higher, making my anger towards the bastard grow.

**"This ends the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch. I wish every player the best of luck."**

"**KAYABA!**" I screamed while flipping him off double time. He Slowly faded into a red dust like material and said, **"****Good luck... Kazu." **

My eyes widened and I looked around to see if anyone else noticed his last three words, but everyone was still standing, frozen is shock. After a few seconds...

All Hell broke lose.

People where screaming in outrage, crying of shock, and generally fighting among themselves. I saw a shimmer and I realized that that was the barrier that was keeping us in. I pushed myself through the crowd and ran through an alley way, already planning on what I was going to do to survive in this world. right when I was about to run out of the city walls, I saw a NPC with a glowing **! **over its head. I slowed to a stop and accepted the quest. It was Simple quest, kill about 50 Dire wolves and you will get your reward in the next town. I shrugged and thought 'ok, easy quest, why not?'. While I was stopped, I decided to change out of my starter equipment and change into my beta clothes which consisted of a pair of black leather pants, a black t-shirt, and a black overcoat the boosted my DEF by 100. When I was done, I ended up looking way more badass then I did before. I rolled my shoulders and continued my sprint toward the next town, smiling all the way. After about an hour of running and grinding all the way, I was a level 15 and half way to being a level 16. I sighed and sheathed my sword and walked into the town called Tolbania **(****A/N: I haven't read the books, because the books are honestly too confusing for me, so if I get any of the town names wrong, my apologies.) **After about five minutes of walking, I came to the town center and I saw a old man with a glowing Question mark above his head. I picked up my pace and stopped when I came face to face with the old man.

"Hello sir." I started, knowing that he would ask if I finished the quest.

"Ah hello! My, such a strong young man, I hope that you came here to give me the good news that the threat of the wolves have been quelled?" The NPC asked.

"Yes, I have sir"

The old man grinned and said," Thank you! Here is your reward as promised."

When He finished talking, a screen appeared in front of me saying, _Congratulations, 'You have completed the quest "The Deadly Claw", here is your reward._

I heard the sound of a level up and I looked at my Status bar and did a double take when I saw that I was a level 18. _' Two and a half levels ehh, damn, that's some good stuff.'  
_

I opened my menu to see what quest rewards I got, and I was surprised at what I got,

A full set of equipment.

When you get a certain piece of equipment that is named, you can't buy at a NPC store, and has some special ability, it usually belongs to a set. A set includes of a pair of gloves, boots, armor, helmet, and sometimes a weapon. When you have a full set, it gives the owner a boost in ATT, DEF, HP, CRI. CH, CRI. DMG, and EVA. Depending on the set, the stats can vary, but it always has those main ones. The set name was called "The Midnight" set. Meaning that all of the equipment had midnight in the title. It was a set based mainly on offense and mobility. The armor was a mixture of leather and black cloth armor, offering fairly good defense and high mobility and room for movement, it also had no sleeves on it... weird. The helmet was actually a black hood that covered most of my face. The boots where made out of a soft black leather and the gloves were cloth that showed my fingers and went up to my elbows (guess what color?).

**(A/N Sorry, am I rambling... whops!)**

After I equipped my newly acquired stuff, I looked to see if I got a weapon, which I did. It's name was "Black Midnight", a curved sword, barely noticeable, but still their. It inflected bleed damage, draining 5% every 10 seconds, but it only lasted 50 seconds. It had a +60 enhancement rate and 300 durability. It had a 10% chance of inflecting blindness and a 1% change of paralysis.

"Wow, talk about OP for a sword on flow one. I ain't trading this baby anytime soon." I said while placing the sheath on my back, what can I say, I've always been kinda weird.

I started running up the stairs of the city walls and when I got to the top, I jumped off the walls, sword unsheathed and held in a ice-pick grip, falling to the ground and into a area of freshly spawned mobs.

And for just a second, I forgot that I was in a death game, and that there was no way to get out, and that we could all die in the next week.

I forgot, and I smiled.

* * *

**A/N Whoo YEA! Chapter two is DONE! Thank you for waiting and I'm not sorry for taking so long. I have a Lot of ideas for this story, and I plan to write them all down. Also I accept HELPING flames, I wan't to be able to improve my story in any way. So if you think that you are a better writer than me then my all means, go ahead and tell me what I did wrong and I will fix it.**

**Also, my story will have some references from "Sword of the Stranger" and other anime. So yea...**

**I'llKickYourAss out!**


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